Posted on 02/19/2025 4:05:05 PM PST by Slings and Arrows
A Mississippi judge ordered a newspaper to remove an editorial criticizing the mayor and city leaders after the officials sued, sparking complaints from press advocates that it violates the First Amendment.
Chancery Judge Crystal Wise Martin issued the restraining order against the Clarksdale Press Register on Tuesday in connection with a Feb. 8 editorial titled “Secrecy, Deception Erode Public Trust.” The piece criticized the city for not sending the newspaper notice about a meeting the City Council held regarding a proposed tax on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco.
“I think it’s dangerous that a judge would issue a temporary restraining order without a hearing,” said Wyatt Emmerich, president of the paper’s parent company, Emmerich Newspapers. “We’ll fight it and see where it goes.”
The city’s lawsuit called the editorial libelous and said it “chilled and hindered” the city’s efforts to lobby for the tax with state legislators.
The editorial was no longer available on the newspaper’s website by Wednesday afternoon. Martin scheduled a Feb. 27 hearing in the case.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Well, Wyatt, you ignorant wretch. They do it to Potus Trump all the time. Where's your outrage there?
Another entitled but constitutionally ignorant pseudo-legally educated black female masquerading as a judge.
Wise is her surname. Martin is the surname of her lesbian wife, I’d wager.
The black robes are running amok!
How did this person become a lawyer, let alone a judge?
And the newspaper complied. Weak as water.
The quaint idea of the press as the Fourth Estate requires there be no pre-censorship.
“The role of the press to be a “watchdog” and monitor a government’s actions has been one of the fundamental components of a democratic society.
Ettema and Glasser (1998) argue that watchdog journalism’s most important role is that their “stories implicitly demand the response of public officials”.
Playing a role as a Fourth Estate, watchdog journalism is able to force governments to meet their obligations to the public by publicizing issues such as scandals, corruption, and failure to address needs of the public.”
From Watchdog journalism entry in Wikipedia. They use Watergate as an example.
Ha. Anything worthwhile has been covered by the great classics of comedy cinema.
And remember in life....
Walter Sobchak:
“Smokey, this is not ‘Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.”
I mean, that’s just like your opinion, man.
Ha. Can’t get anything past a Coen Brothers fan.
“Chancery Judge ‘Crystal’ Wise Martin”.
CBS just did a report where their idiot urinalist was gleefully reporting Germany raiding the homes and arresting people accused of posting offensive memes online. The urinalist was down right giddy when the German prosecutor said “yes we will arrest anyone who insults a politician.”
Well. Where is CBS now???
But it's possible that Jeff Bezos and the owner of the Los Angeles Times may be red-pilled.
Time will tell.
Otherwise, how did Joe Biden get away with being senile for nearly four years into his presidency?
We posted about it on X but we were viewed as "far right conspiracy theorists" so we didn't get any traction at the time.
Where does she think she is — Germany?
Here is the full & FREE text of the editorial in question:
EDITORIAL: Secrecy, deception erode public trust
By THE PRESS REGISTER
Sat,02/08/25-3:00AM, 1,041 Reads
Your Clarksdale Press Register will be the first to say that a sin tax that would pay police to fight crime in Clarksdale is a good idea.
So why did the City of Clarksdale fail to go to the public with details about this idea before it sent a resolution to the Mississippi Legislature seeking a two-percent tax on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco?
Mayor Chuck Espy has always touted how “open” and “transparent” he is and he is “not like previous administrations of the past 30 years.”
So why did Espy seek a Special Called Meeting of the Board of Mayor and Commissioners to finalize details of this move?
The notice was posted at city hall as required by law and said stated the city would “give appropriate notice thereof to the media.”
This newspaper was never notified. We know of no other media organization that was notified.
But back to what the city was trying to do.
Yes, there are deadlines for submitting legislation to Jackson. But this tax has been discussed in at least two meetings and has been reported in the pages of your Clarksdale Press Register.
Have commissioners or the mayor gotten kick-back from the community? Until Tuesday we had not heard of any. Maybe they just want a few nights in Jackson to lobby for this idea - at public expense.
As with all legislation, the devil is in the details and how legislation often morphs into something else that benefits somebody else.
An idea that sought to pay police higher wages for the toughest job in any community is admirable. But the way the resolution sought by the city of Clarksdale is now written gives us cause for concern.
The money - our money - can now be spent to “support and promote public safety, crime prevention and continued economic growth in the city.”
Does that mean the fire department, 911, Chamber of Commerce and their pet projects?
Does that promotion mean, giving away candy at Halloween, toy giveaways at Christmas and hosting events where politicians can hand out goody bags to votersin the name of safety?
This newspaper feels the original intent serves the purpose of all - putting police on the streets of Clarksdale.
More police will lead to more patrols, more patrols will lead to more arrests, more arrests will lead to less crime and less crime will make us all feel safer in our homes and neighborhoods.
Our Clarksdale Board of Mayor and Commissioners have stumped their toe on this one. They took a good idea, let their focus drift, and made us suspicious.
Don’t these protestors realize free speech led to the Holocaust?
All media should republish this in my opinion.
The good news is what this judge has done will cause this to have a much broader audience than the newspaper could have ever achieved. The “Streisand Effect”.
The Clarksdale Press Register
EDITORIAL: Secrecy, deception erode public trust
By THE PRESS REGISTER
December 8, 2025
Your Clarksdale Press Register will be the first to say that a sin tax that would pay police to fight crime in Clarksdale is a good idea.
So why did the City of Clarksdale fail to go to the public with details about this idea before it sent a resolution to the Mississippi Legislature seeking a two-percent tax on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco?
Mayor Chuck Espy has always touted how “open” and “transparent” he is and he is “not like previous administrations of the past 30 years.”
So why did Espy seek a Special Called Meeting of the Board of Mayor and Commissioners to finalize details of this move?
The notice was posted at city hall as required by law and said stated the city would “give appropriate notice thereof to the media.”
This newspaper was never notified. We know of no other media organization that was notified.
But back to what the city was trying to do.
Yes, there are deadlines for submitting legislation to Jackson. But this tax has been discussed in at least two meetings and has been reported in the pages of your Clarksdale Press Register.
Have commissioners or the mayor gotten kick-back from the community? Until Tuesday we had not heard of any. Maybe they just want a few nights in Jackson to lobby for this idea - at public expense.
As with all legislation, the devil is in the details and how legislation often morphs into something else that benefits somebody else.
An idea that sought to pay police higher wages for the toughest job in any community is admirable. But the way the resolution sought by the city of Clarksdale is now written gives us cause for concern.
The money - our money - can now be spent to “support and promote public safety, crime prevention and continued economic growth in the city.”
Does that mean the fire department, 911, Chamber of Commerce and their pet projects?
Does that promotion mean, giving away candy at Halloween, toy giveaways at Christmas and hosting events where politicians can hand out goody bags to votersin the name of safety?
This newspaper feels the original intent serves the purpose of all - putting police on the streets of Clarksdale.
More police will lead to more patrols, more patrols will lead to more arrests, more arrests will lead to less crime and less crime will make us all feel safer in our homes and neighborhoods.
Our Clarksdale Board of Mayor and Commissioners have stumped their toe on this one. They took a good idea, let their focus drift, and made us suspicious.
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